UBC Press Play Therapy in the Outdoors book Paperback

Championing the therapeutic power of nature, this book explores why outdoor play therapy offers children more than being confined to a playroom and how practice can be moved into the natural environment in a safe and ethical way.  By using outdoor environments, the traditional dyadic relationship between the therapist and the child becomes a triadic one in which the therapeutic process is enhanced and the environment for the play therapy is shared and therefore more 'democratic'. The child can develop a lifelong therapeutic attachment to the 'nature mother' which supports the development of the body self and a growing recognition of our interdependence with nature. The author explores how this is achievable in practice and the benefits to children with a wide range of needs including profound and multiple learning difficulties (PMLD), complex social, emotional and behavioural problems (SEBD) and attachment issues. Synthesising traditions of using outdoor spaces in a therapeutic context with approaches from educational perspectives, this book offers a theoretically-sound and practical framework for taking play therapy into natural environments.

Alison Chown is a play therapist and experienced specialist teacher for children and young people with complex behavioural, emotional and social difficulties. She is an independent practitioner and director of Phoenix Play, and its sister company Learning Tree Training Limited, which provide individually tailored training to schools and other agencies. Through this role she also is an associate tutor for Worcester and Plymouth Universities, lecturing at Foundation Degree level in Behaviour for Learning, Developing Inclusive Practice and Child Development. She lives in Dorset, UK.